Anyone else just enjoy "no think" books?

[Slartibartfast]

:laugh:

 

 

Oops. I quoted too soon. Is Lullaby strange or graphic?

 

Indeed it is.

 

I added a footnote. I am delighted I can use footnotes.

[GWOB]

 

 

IME anyone who says they "never do any light reading *sniff*" has a serious Johanna Lindsey habit.

 

 

 

I read non-fiction for fun (I read fluff as well) but I find huge chunks of facts soothing. That's probably a bit weird but I am sure there are others here who are similarly wired. Historical fiction bothers me, not because I am a book snob but because they are mucking in those facts that I find soothing. :lol: I suppose it is like wandering into an OCD person's home and rearranging their cupboards.

 

I bought Alison Weir's fiction book about Lady Jane Grey and it really annoyed me. I hate being told historical characters are thinking!!

 

See, I too am a bit of a fact girl, yet I love historical fiction. Of course, when I read historical fiction, I always have my iPhone by my side ready to google the "real" situation. For me, historical fiction sparks an interest in a specific time period. It takes me forever to get through a historical fiction book because I get so distracted reading about and researching the specific time period/important people. While I am learning, I still consider historical fiction fluffy.

[Georgiana Daniels]

I love to read and sometimes read a book or more a day if I have the time, other times it is less than a book a week.

 

I see all these threads about these wonderful, life changing books, classical books, etc. Honestly, right now when I read, I just want a nice, "no think" book. This can include Christian fiction, light humor and memoir type books, and other fiction/non-fiction books. I just don't have the desire or brain power left at night to read anything really heavy or thought provoking/life changing.

 

Anyone else like this?

 

YES!

 

At the end of the day, I need brain candy.

[Slartibartfast]

See, I too am a bit of a fact girl, yet I love historical fiction. Of course, when I read historical fiction, I always have my iPhone by my side ready to google the "real" situation. For me, historical fiction sparks an interest in a specific time period. It takes me forever to get through a historical fiction book because I get so distracted reading about and researching the specific time period/important people. While I am learning, I still consider historical fiction fluffy.

 

Ah...that might be interesting. I had already read several of her Tudor history books so I was familiar with the subject matter before reading it. I should try reading one where I am less familiar with the history so I can try your method.

[Violet Crown]

Deleted. Note to self: no posting late at night with a fever.

[swellmomma]

No.

 

Bill

 

Sometimes I want to just shake you. Like really really hard. :boxing_smiley: Because I hate you. Not like Hate hate but I hate you. Step away from the whale :gnorsi: (says the mother who rented the video from the library to introduce that one to my kids, who had more fun laughing about a sperm whale named Moby Dick...yes they are immature little perverts). I get reading good literature, and do so, and non fiction. But seriously, brain candy books are sitcoms for bookophiles. You know how most of america puts on the tv and then spends hours watching it without their brain turning on. Brain candy books are like that for those of us that love to read do that for us only we can curl up cozier or lounge in the tub with our book. I dunno, are you actually human? because you do not always come across as one. Or at least not a normal one. More like a pod person, or a stepford man, or like one of those aliens off of the neighbors. :biggrinjester: <---(as close to an alien as I could find) With the golf pants and weird almost human way about them. I'm just saying. Go find some fan fiction and let your brain have a rest.

 

 

...actually on second thought keep reading moby dick, because then when the zombie apocolypse comes they will decide your brain holds the most nutrition and attack you first and the rest of us will get away. And because we read the brain numbing books we do we will actually be better suited to dealing with zombies because we already know how the necromancers handle them etc. So if you really think about it reading brain candy books might actually save your life one day...but you will never know, because you never read them. Sucks to be you, be sure to scream loudly to warn us when the zombies start sucking your brain out okay :laugh: :ack2: <--zombie looking for brains

[Slartibartfast]

Far be it from me to speak for Bill, but I don't think he's saying he only reads "difficult," "heavy," "intellectual," etc. books, or that he never reads for fun.

 

The comparisons to candy and junk food seem like a useful metaphor here. I love Sonic tater tots with that fake American cheese melted on them. Junk food. But I have a friend who can't bear that kind of junk food. She eats unprocessed, nutritious food. She goes to the effort to prepare healthy, tasty food that's often just as cheap as cheesy tots. It's a little more effort, but she doesn't do it because she's too good for junk food, or because she doesn't have favorite indulgence foods; she has her cheap and easy favorites - she just genuinely likes the taste of healthy, well-prepared food and dislikes processed junk food. And she certainly doesn't think her food choices make her a superior person to us tater-nomming sorts.

 

 

I don't think he defined what he considers to be "fluff" or "book candy" so it would be difficult to find insult when none was given. Maybe he does see Robert Jordan as his "outstanding literature" but if one never reads fantasy or sci fi I would find that very dull indeed. Frank Herbert is, IMO "outstanding" but unless he is going to trash Frank Herbert I am not going to rumble. If he does trash Frank Herbert we are going to have to fight. I would like to be the Sharks, thanks.

 

I see David Sederis as "fluff" but I read it because I think it is funny. But there are many books that are easy-to-digest that most would not consider, "mindless fluff" like P.G. Wodehouse, C.S. Lewis or O. Henry.

 

My mom made me read Twilight and I was, "what is this horror you have inflicted on me?" I don't care for vampire books. I am not a book snob at Twilight I just found it indigestible. I also do not like donuts.

[Violet Crown]

Of course - and I wasn't reading anything as insult toward anyone. Sorry if it came across that way. I could get across tone better, I think, if I could use more than the three smilies.

[justamouse]

Yes.

 

Why? I hate TV. I rarely, if ever, watch it. OK, I shouldn't say I HATE it, but unless it's Downton, Grimm, something like that... then I have no interest and I don't even remember when the shows are on when I love them. I watch the news. But now I don't anymore and might not for a few years.

 

So I'll read while the family watches TV, to if I want to keep half an eye on the TV, I'll knit.

 

I've been reading non fict for about two years now, but when I get on a fiction spree, I'll read a book a day, too. LOVE that. It's like a vacation.

[tabrizia]

That's cause sookie rocks. I really wish charlaine harris could put out more than 1 a year :p

 

Admission time, I hate sookie. I bought the first one because of the raves and I adore that kind of brain candy (seriously urban fantasy with vampires, top choice of mine). I couldn't get past the first 5 chapters. I did not like it at all. I also don't like Anita Blake...

 

 

75% of what I read is mind candy - paranormal's, urban fantasy, romances, cozy mysteries. I don't like books that make me cry and try to avoid them at all costs. Once in a while I'll be in the mood for one but otherwise - let me be entertained and taken away from my life for a while.

 

I don't mind crying over a book as long as they are happy tears, but other then that I completely agree with this post. Brain candy books are my tv, mindless fun entertainment I enjoy and can read without having to delve to deep into the mean behind each word and what the secret message of the story is behind the written story line.

[Slartibartfast]

Of course - and I wasn't reading anything as insult toward anyone. Sorry if it came across that way. I could get across tone better, I think, if I could use more than the three smilies.

I agree.

 

It is sometimes difficult for me to get my point across very well online.

 

Sometimes my tone in my posts sounds (to me at least) very abrupt or disapproving. I have one of those very expressive faces and I punctuate my speech with excessive onomatopoeia. I don't have a way to do that online. :lol:

[LMD]

Sure, I guess around 20% of what I read is easy-to-read entertainment. Especially when I've slogged through a difficult classic (thanks for recommending Solzhenitsyn btw Bill, my mother gave me her copy of the Gulag Archipelago's, which my grandmother - her MIL - gave to her in the UK in the late 70's. I never met my grandmother, it is now a precious possession!). My go-to easy reading author is Francine Rivers. I've been slogging through the Russian's (Tolstoy, Pasternak, Dostoyevsky...) lately and I'll admit they're fantastic but challenging. And there's been many books that fall in the middle somewhere, somewhere in the vast chasm between Tolstoy and Rivers!

[TravelingChris]

I don't think some of the books listed here are non thinking books. I mean, I guess you can read anything and not think but even with cosy mysteries I usually end up thinking a lot. They are enjoyable to me but I can honestly say that there are more mysteries that have made me think longer than Middlemarch. That book, considered a classic, didn't make me think hardly at all. Not that it was such a bad story- just not all that much to think about. Versus when I read Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies Detective Agency books, I end up thinking a lot.

[swellmomma]

I agree.

 

It is sometimes difficult for me to get my point across very well online.

 

Sometimes my tone in my posts sounds (to me at least) very abrupt or disapproving. I have one of those very expressive faces and I punctuate my speech with excessive onomatopoeia. I don't have a way to do that online. :lol:

 

Me too. That is why I tried to include lots of emoticons in my above reply. Irl I talk with my face and hands not just my words, can't see that online, and no matter how many times I type something chuckling, or making a certain voice with it etc someone always reads it with a totally opposite tone and then I get in trouble and am left wondering WTH just happened. Trying to use more emoticons when I am being silly in hopes people get closer to the voice I was saying things in.

[Slartibartfast]

Me too. That is why I tried to include lots of emoticons in my above reply. Irl I talk with my face and hands not just my words, can't see that online, and no matter how many times I type something chuckling, or making a certain voice with it etc someone always reads it with a totally opposite tone and then I get in trouble and am left wondering WTH just happened. Trying to use more emoticons when I am being silly in hopes people get closer to the voice I was saying things in.

 

That is me! I need at least 47 smilies to get my point across in some of my longer posts. I also need sound effects. I have been accused or being rather muppet like. :lol:

 

I also wave my arms around, I was in a cast after my car wreck and everyone called my cast, "the konk" because I kept hitting people with it while I was talking. *I need a bag on head smilie here*

 

I am going to have to just start inserting appropriate sound effects into my posts. *insert dubious onomatopoeia here*, *head exploding onomatopoeia* or *makes plane crash noises as thread begins to take a downward slant*

 

For instance,

 

"I bought myself a hobbit bag at Barnes and Noble today and right before Christmas too. Dh is going to be *makes Psycho shower scene music noises*"

 

I nearly bought myself a Thorin Oakenshield action figure and a journal with Tolkien's cute little dragon on it (which I actually have embroidered on things) but then dh would be exclaiming, "Criss-cross" to some random guy at work.

[LG Gone Wild]

I don't think some of the books listed here are non thinking books. I mean, I guess you can read anything and not think but even with cosy mysteries I usually end up thinking a lot. They are enjoyable to me but I can honestly say that there are more mysteries that have made me think longer than Middlemarch. That book, considered a classic, didn't make me think hardly at all. Not that it was such a bad story- just not all that much to think about. Versus when I read Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies Detective Agency books, I end up thinking a lot.

 

 

Alexander McCall Smith makes you think? Hmmm, all I get out of it is nostalgia and, "That was very pleasant." And I eagerly await his next book.

[GWOB]

 

 

Ah...that might be interesting. I had already read several of her Tudor history books so I was familiar with the subject matter before reading it. I should try reading one where I am less familiar with the history so I can try your method.

 

I approach every book as a learning opportunity. I flipping moved to Nebraska because of Willa Cather, damn her awesome books! Yes, I read Twilight, but I did a ton of googling vampire myths while reading that sap that I still unfortunately like. Like I said, every book is a learning opportunity. Perhaps "fluff" is just a matter of semantics.

[swellmomma]

That is me! I need at least 47 smilies to get my point across in some of my longer posts. I also need sound effects. I have been accused or being rather muppet like. :lol:

 

I also wave my arms around, I was in a cast after my car wreck and everyone called my cast, "the konk" because I kept hitting people with it while I was talking. *I need a bag on head smilie here*

 

I am going to have to just start inserting appropriate sound effects into my posts. *insert dubious onomatopoeia here*, *head exploding onomatopoeia* or *makes plane crash noises as thread begins to take a downward slant*

 

For instance,

 

"I bought myself a hobbit bag at Barnes and Noble today and right before Christmas too. Dh is going to be *makes Psycho shower scene music noises*"

 

I nearly bought myself a Thorin Oakenshield action figure and a journal with Tolkien's cute little dragon on it (which I actually have embroidered on things) but then dh would be all "criss-cross" with some random guy at work.

 

the bolded had me crack up I just did that noise at my son complete with the stabbing action for an idiotic thing he did lol. Earlier tonight I was also doing the theme music to jaws while pretending to have a fin to make a point to dd13 about her dance exam (sink or swim time baby)

[idnib]

Jack Reacher books. :leaving:

[KnitWit]

I already read enough mind-numbing things on this forum that I don't need "no think" books :D

 

Bill (off to read Moby Dick with my son)

 

And yet...you keep coming back for more, More, MORE! :)

[KnitWit]

I love to read and I enjoy different genres...depending upon what is going on with life. :)

[ChrisB]

I like light but not so light that I am enraged by their stupidity.

 

This is so true!!!

[Spy Car]

PS What about Narnia? Those are "no think" books and I can't imagine life without having experienced that adventure!

 

 

Definately "no think," and pure torture :D

 

Bill

[Robin M]

I approach every book as a learning opportunity. I flipping moved to Nebraska because of Willa Cather, damn her awesome books! Yes, I read Twilight, but I did a ton of googling vampire myths while reading that sap that I still unfortunately like. Like I said, every book is a learning opportunity. Perhaps "fluff" is just a matter of semantics.

 

Grr! Tried posting from nook but it didn't work and had such a great thought.

 

Exactly. We had this discussion one week on one of the book a week threads. You can get into arguing semantics rather easily. Light...fluffy...twaddle versus heavy...literary. One person's idea of something fluffy may be the other persons idea of heavy. It's all a matter of perspective.

[Spy Car]

Sure, I guess around 20% of what I read is easy-to-read entertainment. Especially when I've slogged through a difficult classic (thanks for recommending Solzhenitsyn btw Bill, my mother gave me her copy of the Gulag Archipelago's, which my grandmother - her MIL - gave to her in the UK in the late 70's. I never met my grandmother, it is now a precious possession!). My go-to easy reading author is Francine Rivers. I've been slogging through the Russian's (Tolstoy, Pasternak, Dostoyevsky...) lately and I'll admit they're fantastic but challenging. And there's been many books that fall in the middle somewhere, somewhere in the vast chasm between Tolstoy and Rivers!

 

 

Glad you liked Solzhenitsyn, did you read Cancer Ward? It is a good one.

 

Those Russians are a pretty reliable bunch.

 

Bill

 

 

[Spy Car]

 

 

And yet...you keep coming back for more, More, MORE! :)

 

 

It's like watching a train wreck :D

 

Bill

[GWOB]

 

 

Glad you liked Solzhenitsyn, did you read Cancer Ward? It is a good one.

 

Those Russians are a pretty reliable bunch.

 

Bill

 

 

Hmmmmmm. I think we are separated by a matter of semantics. Solzhenitsyn is fun for me. He tells a great story with 15,000 layers. Tolstoy? Yum!!! Dostoyevsky? Yes please! I consider those guys hard candy. Steinbeck (my personal favorite)? Melt-in-your-mouth chocolate-peanut-butter magic.

 

ETA: I still love the occasional fluff. Outlander series? Uh, what's not to love about guys in kilts and mostly-accurate historical fiction?

[Spy Car]

 

 

Hmmmmmm. I think we are separated by a matter of semantics. Solzhenitsyn is fun for me. He tells a great story with 15,000 layers. Tolstoy? Yum!!! Dostoyevsky? Yes please! I consider those guys hard candy. Steinbeck (my personal favorite)? Melt-in-your-mouth chocolate-peanut-butter magic.

 

 

All very fun dudes!

 

Bill

[GWOB]

 

 

All very fun dudes!

 

Bill

 

 

Aww, thanks! Now, what gets me is philosophy. Thinking about thinking? Meh. I am a practical gal. I've read the SPA philosophers. Cool guys, but meh.

[Spy Car]

 

 

Sometimes I want to just shake you. Like really really hard. :boxing_smiley: Because I hate you. Not like Hate hate but I hate you. Step away from the whale :gnorsi: (says the mother who rented the video from the library to introduce that one to my kids, who had more fun laughing about a sperm whale named Moby Dick...yes they are immature little perverts). I get reading good literature, and do so, and non fiction. But seriously, brain candy books are sitcoms for bookophiles. You know how most of america puts on the tv and then spends hours watching it without their brain turning on. Brain candy books are like that for those of us that love to read do that for us only we can curl up cozier or lounge in the tub with our book. I dunno, are you actually human? because you do not always come across as one. Or at least not a normal one. More like a pod person, or a stepford man, or like one of those aliens off of the neighbors. :biggrinjester: <---(as close to an alien as I could find) With the golf pants and weird almost human way about them. I'm just saying. Go find some fan fiction and let your brain have a rest.

 

 

...actually on second thought keep reading moby dick, because then when the zombie apocolypse comes they will decide your brain holds the most nutrition and attack you first and the rest of us will get away. And because we read the brain numbing books we do we will actually be better suited to dealing with zombies because we already know how the necromancers handle them etc. So if you really think about it reading brain candy books might actually save your life one day...but you will never know, because you never read them. Sucks to be you, be sure to scream loudly to warn us when the zombies start sucking your brain out okay :laugh: :ack2: <--zombie looking for brainsk

 

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Are you sure the zombie apocalypse hasn't already started? :D

 

Bill

[Slartibartfast]

It's like watching a train wreck :D

 

Bill

 

 

*trainwreck noises*

[swellmomma]

 

*trainwreck noises*

 

 

don't forget teh sirens of the approaching first responders and then the actions of the rubber neckers watching :lol:

[GWOB]

 

 

*trainwreck noises*

 

 

Would it be hateful and snippy of me to compare watching Honey Boo Boo to watching the WTM boards? I kinda love both of them. Train wrecks fascinate me.

[Slartibartfast]

Would it be hateful and snippy of me to compare watching Honey Boo Boo to watching the WTM boards? I kinda love both of them. Train wrecks fascinate me.

 

 

I haven't seen Honey Boo Boo, I don't watch such *exaggerated sniff* light television (mock aristocratic voice)

[GWOB]

Honey Boo Boo, while they really are a functional, loving family, amuses the crap out of me. So does the WTM board.

 

Wendi-who comes from a long line of white trash criminals, yet all her kids have the same baby daddy

[swellmomma]

Honey Boo Boo, while they really are a functional, loving family, amuses the crap out of me. So does the WTM board.

 

Wendi-who comes from a long line of white trash criminals, yet all her kids have the same baby daddy

 

 

as opposed to Brandy who comes from a long line of hard working honest folk, yet not all hers do lol

[Spy Car]

 

 

Aww, thanks! Now, what gets me is philosophy. Thinking about thinking? Meh. I am a practical gal. I've read the SPA philosophers. Cool guys, but meh.

 

 

Crito is pretty funny.

 

But with some exceptions (like Thus Spake Zarathustra) reading philosophy books is not (generally speaking) my idea of a good time. And when it comes to blokes like Jaques Derrida or Jean-François Lyotard, forget it! I'd rather suffer through a noodle-headed lightweight like CS Lewis than reading these "geniuses" (if those were my only choices, which—mercifully—is not the case).

 

But read Crito. Sophocles (as rendered by Plato) is as funny as David Sedaris.

 

Bill

 

 

[GWOB]

 

 

Crito is pretty funny.

 

But with some exceptions (like Thus Spake Zarathustra) reading philosophy books is not (generally speaking) my idea of a good time. And when it comes to blokes like Jaques Derrida or Jean-François Lyotard, forget it! I'd rather suffer through a noodle-headed lightweight like CS Lewis than reading these "geniuses" (if those were my only choices, which—mercifully—is not the case).

 

But read Crito. Sophocles (as rendered by Plato) is as funny as David Sedaris.

 

Bill

 

 

(Hangs head in shame) I like CS Lewis! I think I've read Sophocles, but I may have blocked that out of my psyche. Theory is great and all, but I used to operate nuclear reactors. Give this gal something practical and her soul will sing.

[Spy Car]

 

 

(Hangs head in shame) I like CS Lewis! I think I've read Sophocles, but I may have blocked that out of my psyche. Theory is great and all, but I used to operate nuclear reactors. Give this gal something practical and her soul will sing.

 

 

You don't want to be in a room with me whilst I'm reading CS Lewis :D

 

I remember reading Mere Christianity (due to some heavy forum pressure) and expostulating (loudly) throughout at the absurd logical leaps he attempted to force upon his reader. "Are you kidding me???"

 

Bill

[GWOB]

 

 

You don't want to be in a room with me whilst I'm reading CS Lewis :D

 

I remember reading Mere Christianity (due to some heavy forum pressure) and expostulating (loudly) throughout at the absurd logical leaps he attempted to force upon his reader. "Are you kidding me???"

 

Bill

 

 

Bless your heart! I love CS Lewis! This nuclear-reactor-operating gals often steps out on faith.

 

Wendi-the Sunday School and Confirmation teaching gal

[Giraffe]

OT: Bill, what is the source of the quote in your signature? It sounds familiar but I can't place it.

[Shawna in Texas]

Jack Reacher books. :leaving:

 

 

My DH reads these and is in a quandary. He wants to go see the movie, but Tom Cruise plays Reacher. It makes him cry a little bit.

 

 

 

*trainwreck noises*

 

 

You are forgiven for not liking donuts since you amuse me so. :tongue_smilie:

[Catwoman]

I don't like to read a book unless I'm reasonably sure that nothing horribly upsetting is in it - especially concerning kids or animals.

 

Same here.

[Catwoman]

It's like watching a train wreck :D

 

Bill

 

 

Yeah, but with kilts and cupcakes. :thumbup:

[Melissa in Australia]

OT: Bill, what is the source of the quote in your signature? It sounds familiar but I can't place it.

 

 

Bill, regarding your quote.

 

Most people in Australia shut up their windows and blinds during the day, because the heat is definitely carried in the hot north wind, and having the blinds drawn helps stop the heat coming into the house.

[Melissa in Australia]

As for no think books.

I am a bookworm, I have to read. it is a way of relaxing my mind. But I do not have time to read a novel, because once I start I cannot put the book down until I have finished. which would mean no teaching the children and even no cooking dinner. So what I do is I read books that I have read a million times before. classics that I read as a child. I know the books back to front. I can pick one up, open it anywhere and read for a while. I can then close the book anywhere, no need to read it to the end. My mind is now relaxed.

 

Every day I also read my University text books ( I am currently a full time student), sections from at least one non-fiction book - like something on gardening, and am reading Herodotus.

[Night Elf]

Admission time, I hate sookie. I bought the first one because of the raves and I adore that kind of brain candy (seriously urban fantasy with vampires, top choice of mine). I couldn't get past the first 5 chapters. I did not like it at all. I also don't like Anita Blake...

 

 

I don't care for Sookie Stackhouse because of the content (I cannot get into vampire stuff unless it's Dracula) but I do love two of Charlaine Harris's other series, Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard "Shakespeare". Cozy mysteries are my favorite.

[Luckymama]

IME anyone who says they "never do any light reading *sniff*" has a serious Johanna Lindsey habit.

 

 

:lol:

 

I spend so much time reading non-fiction as homeschool planning that when it comes to MY time, I'm going to read whatever I goshdarn feel like! I read about 10 books a week, mostly contemporary romance with some suspense (not mystery) thrown in. I also read classic authors like Jane Austen, LM Montgomery and the Brontes.

 

I don't watch any tv. I don't spend much time online. I read :)

[Lizzie in Ma]

Absolutely. This past year or so I've not been much of an intellectual reader, too much going on and I need escapism.

 

I love paranormal,

Dresden Files, Iron Druid, Kate Daniels, Anna Strong, Night Huntress, Mercedes Thompson

Jane Yellowrock, Nikki Glass, October Daye, Mortal Instruments

 

action/adventure /mystery

Dirk Pitt

Spencer

Numa Files

 

some historical fiction.

Amelia Peabody

 

and lots of younger stuff

Harry Potter

Fablehaven

Inkspell

Libriomancer

Maximum Ride

Divergent

Hunger Games

some nonfiction still gets in the mix but it is mostly stuff that amuses me

Bill Bryson

Patrick McManus

[Mrs Mungo]

I read a LOT. Some books are easier to read than others. My brain sometimes needs a break. I think I read 6 lighter books in between sections of Crime and Punishment. I read lots of sci-fi and fantasy in addition to "heavy" literature and non-fiction. I love Wodehouse and Christopher Moore (not that zombie Santa one though, it was too silly). Lots of Douglas Adams. I will say the teens I do lit discussion with did not find The Inferno as funny as I find it, so my perspective on what is light literature could be skewed.

 

I once asked someone if he had ever read Agatha Christie. He said that he didn't read novels, only quality literature like Dickens. I said, "Dickens wrote novels." This thread reminds me of that conversation.